(?) A. W.: Stefan, let me start with you. Since I have been part of the team for nearly two decades, I know the background story, but for our readers, what was the “spark” that got it all started?

(!) S. B.: As so often in life, ideas come when you must solve a problem. My issue at that time was that I was responsible for international marketing for a company in the field of peening and blasting. We had little financial resources for marketing. Thinking of a solution, I saw that nearly every developed country had a national print magazine covering topics within the metal finishing industry, but internationally there was nothing available. Almost no magazine was distributed worldwide. I concluded that certain metal finishing topics must be equally interesting for anybody around the globe, regardless of whether they live in North or South America, Asia, Europe, or elsewhere. Keep in mind that the internet was, in the late nineties, still in its “baby shoes” and could not be part of a real marketing solution. Also, globalization had just started — China and the former Soviet Union were economically a “white map” for the rest of the world. So, for that time, it was a bold thought to publish a globally read magazine. However, there was one role model and great exception that I knew well: the magazine called THE SHOT PEENER, which was published by Jack Champaigne. This magazine mainly focused on shot peening and was a great inspiration for me. My goal was to do something similar, including other processes like blasting and vibratory finishing. But I needed a name that could describe the surface preparation industry for metals. Metal Finishing News (MFN) was selected after brainstorming different magazine names.

Finally, I got the idea to convince a handful of companies to share their international contact lists, so I could turn them all into free subscribers of this new magazine. In return, the publication would give the company that provided the addresses a certain number of free advertisements. And that is where Peter Beckmerhagen came into play — who was a good business friend to me. I made him a suggestion.

(?) A. W.: Well, let’s switch to Peter then. I guess you turned Stefan down right from the start…

(!) P. B.:  Of course not. I was the General Manager of Frohn at that time and had known Stefan for a few years already. I thought it was a daring but great idea. However, I had two objectives. Number one was that the magazine needed to be neutral. That meant everybody would have to be allowed to place ads and contribute articles, regardless of being competition or not. There was no convincing needed. For Stefan, it was clear that this magazine could only be successful if it stayed completely neutral. For him, neutrality was key to being successful. No company wants to place advertisements or contribute articles if the publication turns out to be some kind of company newsletter for the competition. Objective number two was naturally the cost. Was it financeable? Stefan presented the cost for print and international mailing, and it was very reasonable for each party involved — not more expensive than placing a two-page ad in every issue of a local magazine. Looking at its potential, there was not much to lose and therefore not a high-risk project. Furthermore, his suggestion was to stop anytime if required. So, I told Stefan, why not do this together as equal partners? He agreed and we became the founders of MFN.

(?) A. W.: Stefan, how about the first issue of the magazine?

(!) S. B.: I still have to smile when I think about it. The first issue of MFN INTERNATIONAL was printed in September 2000 — entirely in black and white, designed using free software, and consisting of just 12 pages. We got about 850 international addresses and only around 1,000 copies were produced. Each magazine was proudly packed and labelled by hand before being loaded into an aging Nissan Micra 1.0. The small car's trunk sagged dangerously under the heavy paper weight. The journey from Zurich to the first post office across the German border took a little over an hour — however, it was worth the effort: international postal charges in Germany were only half the price of those in Switzerland... A huge effort!

(?) A. W.: Peter, what did you think about the result? Tell me the truth!

(!) P. B.:  To be honest, yes, it did look a bit like a high school paper from, let’s say, not the best high school in the county... But it was a start. And it worked. Probably because peening, blasting and vibratory finishing was — and to a certain extent still is — a bit of a niche segment. Except for the highly respected THE SHOT PEENER, there was no real competition for the publication and that certainly helped the magazine a great deal. But then everything developed very quickly. Only a year later, we had enough advertisers to cover the cost! The extensive research for new addresses around the globe allowed us to reach the benchmark of 3,000 subscribers after that period. We decided to go for a new design, switched to full colour and increased the frequency of publication from four to six times per year. And we continuously increased our readership over the years. Now our circulation is over 6,000, with distribution to nearly 70 countries. Maintaining good addresses was — and is — the backbone of our effort. Up to now, it occupies a lot of time. On one hand, we want the magazine to go to the right place; on the other hand, the cost is a big factor too. To deliver a single print magazine to the right international address, even only considering printing and postal charges, is a very significant cost factor! We certainly did not do it for the earnings it generated but were happy just to break even.

(?) A. W.: The cost of the print magazine brings me to the next question. Why still print it? Many people would claim that MFN could save a lot of cost by offering it online. Can you answer that, Stefan?

(!) S. B.: Being a “special interest” magazine that is published every two months, our situation is different compared to, let’s say, the daily news, where you dispose of a paper every day after reading. We know that our magazines are often kept for months and then read on and off whenever there is a quieter moment in the office or workshop. Also, the magazine is, depending on the company, internally circulated within a group of interested parties. A print magazine gets much more attention, especially because it is in print and not online. Literally every mildly talented student nowadays can open an online magazine overnight and start to “publish” information around the globe — and many do, and you can tell by looking at the poor quality of the editorials. However, very few succeed in running a print magazine for as long as MFN has. The print mechanism alone is a great benchmark for quality, especially if distributed internationally.

(?) A. W.: Peter, would you agree with Stefan?

(!) P. B.:  Yes, I am very convinced that is true, at least for most parts of the world. There may be one exception, and that is China. Around 10 years ago, we started MFN CHINA, a similar magazine to MFN INTERNATIONAL, but customised for China. Few people may know, but China is by far the world’s biggest market for peening, blasting and vibratory finishing. We did the MFN CHINA publication in print for the first few years but then discovered that Chinese people use smartphones, tablets and computers differently and extremely extensively. China is very advanced in this regard. In the big cities, you cannot pay with cash anymore; there is no way to call a taxi or book a train ticket without an app — the level of digitalisation is just incredibly advanced. It’s not unusual to go into a restaurant in China, look at a table with four people, and see all four staring at their phones, even if it’s a family. So, we decided to launch MFN CHINA on China’s biggest chat platform, which is called WECHAT. Ever since then, we have tripled our reach to over 4,500 people.

(?) A. W.: Stefan, I know that from the very beginning, MFN focused on bringing the key people in the industry together and using MFN as a meeting platform to share the common interest in peening, blasting and vibratory finishing.

(!) S. B.: Yes, for us it was clear that from such networking, everybody in the industry would benefit, if he or she was willing to do so. So, we established contacts with research centres, universities, OEMs, suppliers, end-users — everybody who played an active role within our industries. Our team grew quickly. Soon we had different Contributing Editors who wrote regular columns such as Science Update, Standards Forum, Trainer Column, Good Vibrations, From the World of Blasting, and many more. We recruited Scientific Advisers and other experts who answered technical questions or helped to find the right company for a particular problem. Soon our team consisted of over 20 people, and it grew constantly to finally nearly 60 people being in the MFN organisation. About one-third of the team members own a company or run one, which showed us that their involvement in MFN must pay off; otherwise, they wouldn’t take the extra effort without receiving direct compensation. Only our trainers get paid. So, most of our MFN members are not on our payroll, but they all contribute to the MFN network and its publications in one way or another.

(?) A. W.: As I remember, just after MFN started, an education department was founded. Peter, can you help with the details?

(!) P. B.:  Yes, certainly. Being a growing network in the field of peening, blasting and vibratory finishing, MFN was soon receiving many technical questions that we needed to answer. We realised that especially for these processes, there were no traditional education programs such as apprenticeships, schools or universities. There was no place to learn about peening, blasting and vibratory finishing. The only exception was Electronics Incorporated in the USA, which was very strong in this segment of shot peening. We tried to fill that niche and started to do workshops and onsite training, mainly for shot peening, but also for blasting and vibratory finishing. We did this around the globe. The first workshop in Singapore we organised together with Electronics Incorporated in 2001. It was a joint effort between MFN and EI. We are still very thankful to the owner of EI, Jack Champaigne, who helped us get started in this field. The education segment at MFN grew very quickly after that. In the busiest time, we educated up to 900 people per year. But those figures are much lower nowadays since large companies often have their own in-house training.

(?) A. W.: Stefan, for this training, has MFN ever been challenged about why your organisation could offer such an education program? In other words, what entitled MFN to be qualified for that?

(!) S. B.: That was indeed a problem in the beginning since we had no references. But since these processes were not included around the globe in professional apprenticeships or university education programs, we could explain ourselves as just a private company offering such training. So, there were not too many alternatives. But I knew that we had to seek cooperation with well-accepted organisations in the industry. Our first great benchmark achievement was that the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) endorsed our training. That was a huge undertaking. Ever since, we have submitted the complete training every two years to the FAA for further endorsement. Most of our training has been endorsed for 16 years now without interruption. Furthermore, we became a Partner in Education with Nadcap, an organisation that conducts audits in the aviation industry around the globe. We also have Nadcap auditors in our MFN team.

As far as our trainers are concerned, we relied on experts from the industry and later even on professors from different universities. Doing so, our main concern was again to stay neutral. All our roughly 30 trainers from 14 nations are not full-time trainers and normally represent another company. They all know that during MFN training they need to stick to presentations provided by MFN, and they cannot turn a training into a sales event. On this point we are very strict. However, the contacts the trainers make during the schooling certainly help them for their other businesses too. But we regard that as legitimate.

(?) A. W.: Peter, MFN also has practical training centres, where participants have access to CNC shot peening machines, Ervin testers, sieve shakers and other accessories needed for the process. How does that work?

(!) P. B.:  In Germany, Holland and Singapore, we conduct yearly shot peening workshops where we can offer practical training directly at the equipment. Since peening machines, especially sophisticated machines, are very expensive, we rely on long-term cooperation with third parties who allow us access to their machines. In Altena, Germany, we are supported by Frohn GmbH; in Tilburg, Holland, by Straaltechniek; and in Singapore, we have access to a state-of-the-art computer-controlled shot peening machine from Abrasive Engineering. That shot peening machine is placed at A*STAR – Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre. We are very proud that all these three relationships have been in place for over a decade, some of them even over two decades.

(?) A. W.: Well, let me ask you one final question. What are the goals of MFN in the future?

(!) S. B.: We have published over 200 MFN INTERNATIONAL in print and around 50 MFN CHINA in print or online over the last few decades. Our goal is not so much to grow much further but to maintain the quality of providing useful information and education to the industry for many years to come.

(?) A. W.: Peter, would you like to add something to this?

(!) P. B.: I agree with Stefan regarding MFN’s future direction. But let me take this opportunity to thank our international readership around the globe who have accompanied us on this journey. In addition, a heartfelt thank-you to our loyal advertisers. Most of them have supported us for more than a decade without missing a single issue. Without them, MFN would not exist. It seems to me that most of our advertisers understand that MFN is not profit-oriented, and that their support ensures the continued existence of our organization in providing a hopefully valuable service to the industry.

(!) A. W.: That seems to be a good final remark. Thank you for this opportunity! I wish you, Stefan, and the whole MFN organisation all the best for the 25th Anniversary of MFN!

For Information: 

Metal Finishing News (MFN)

Froihbergstrasse 38

8620 Wetzikon, Switzerland

Tel. +41.44.8312644

E-mail: info@mfn.li

MFN INTERNATIONAL: www.mfn.li

MFN CHINA: www.mfn.li/cn